Who is the lamb? And who is the knife?
by Toast-Junkie
Summary: Immortality can be defined by figuring out what to with the rest of eternity. So after eighty years of never stepping out of Konoha, an event forces her to actually to make use of the time her condition left her with. ItachiOC
1. Chapter 1

**I would like to thank Purewaterlily for all of her help. If it wasn't for her betareading this, there would be a lot more mistakes and confused readers. So, a round of applause for her. **

**Enjoy!**

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"_I had never yet seen a being resembling me or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? The question again recurred, to be answered only with groans"_- Mary Shelley, _Frankenstein_

Sakura and Naruto were heading towards Ichiraku's ramen bar as they had invited Shikamaru to ramen with Kakashi to cheer him up a bit, before Asuma's funeral. As they arrived they found a young woman with ebony black hair sitting at the bar. Sakura recognised the woman straight away due to her trademark goggles, but was shocked to find her here. Sakura hadn't expected her to accept her invitation.

"Kimiko! I can't believe you came!" exclaimed the medic-nin running over to this sickly pale skinned woman, whose complexion appeared to be like chalk, hugging her with joy. There was nothing beautiful about the paleness of her skin, it was like the white skin people had, when they suffered from leprosy.

The girl appeared to be around the age of twenty, but two features made this feat questionable, the first being quite obvious. Her figure was that of a boy's, not only due to the narrow hips and lack of bosom, but her height suggested this as well, since she was much taller than all the boys reaching a height of 5'7. This had been a reoccurring disadvantage, because she resorted to dressing in men's clothing, and therefore was wearing the typical trousers and navy-sleeved top many male jounin wore. She also had the pair of sandals, sported by many male jounin due to the size of her feet.

The other feature was perhaps less obvious and something one would only notice, after engaging conversation or contact with her. Her eyes. They were grey, which would perhaps for many be considered a beautiful trait to possess, but this was not true of Kimiko. Many could not gaze into her eyes or look directly into them, not out of fear, but something else. Her eyes seemed out of place of her youthful appearance, the reason being they appeared to be that of an old and jaded woman. There was something grotesque about it, considering it manifested the idea that pasty woman had implanted her spirit into some poor young woman's body.

"I hope you don't think I don't know what lies beyond the front door of my apartment? I need fresh air every now and then. Anyway I'm testing how long it'll take for Genma to find me. He's probably thought I've fucked off and left the village and has now got a whole ANBU squad after me. A girl can never simply go off and have some ramen," said the brunette, whose hair had pulled up with side fringes and was a little too short to be tied into a proper pony-tail.

The pink-haired girl smiled, glad for her humour especially due to the gloomy atmosphere among the shinobi since Asuma's death. "You have to meet my team mates. This is Naruto, Sai, and Kakashi who I think you already know. Shikamaru is another friend of mine," Sakura said and gestured to each as she introduced each of them. "This is Kimiko, she's been working with me to have a better understanding of chemicals and herbs which are generally not used in medic-nin work."

"Good to meet ya," said Kimiko and tipped her index and middle finger off her forehead as a friendly gesture.

They ordered their food and ate their ramen trying to make small talk. Kimiko was quiet, but then piped up the most inappropriate question: "How was the mission, Sakura?" This put a whole damper on the mood. Nobody said anything.

"Okay, then not so well. You lost someone, possibly close? Hmm…whose funeral is up next? I remember Genma mentioning something…there's so many of them I can never figure out who died and who's still alive. Heck, Kakashi I thought you'd be long past your expiration date."

Naruto and Shikamaru were flabbergasted by the insensitive attitude this woman had towards death. Sakura was also surprised by these statements she made, but not to the same extent as the other two, as she knew Kimiko had somewhat unusual opinions. She remembered Kimiko muttering to herself one time, when she mentioned Sasuke to her, about the Uchiha clan being "fucked-up". But she hadn't expected Kimiko to be so callous. This is something she had expected from Sai, but Kimiko had always seemed somewhat reserved and indifferent to the village, despite the fact that she was the major contributing factor for the items they used in missions.

Sakura didn't know her too well, but Tsunade wished for them to work together. Kimiko was a researcher and had created many of the items one used in missions such as poisoned rice or truth-telling tofu (this was designed more for low-leveled victims without resorting to painful interrogation techniques, that high-leveled had to endure as they could prevent the substance in the tofu to work on their minds.) She also made potions for shift-shaping or other such things.. This was especially useful in missions where the use of chakra was prohibited to avoid detection as a shinobi, or a shinobi that had been drained of their chakra. In addition, she had been the one the behind the pills that Choji took three years previously to aid his team as they tried to retrieve Sasuke from the Sound Four.

Kimiko took more interest in her work than social interaction. Something Sakura learned none too quickly after she discovered Kimiko knew hardly anyone in the village. She didn't even know Naruto, until she mentioned the nine tail fox but just shrugged and said, "that it didn't really concern me".

"Ah, Genma! You have finally arrived!" commented Kimiko with sarcasm as Genma appeared chewing his senbon. "Genma, I was sure you would have had a search party after me by now. Now, I finally know how little I matter to you."

"You're not really the sociable type. So this is one of the last place I would expect to find you."

"Well I have to pretend to be a human sometimes," half-joked Kimiko.

Naruto was fuming at what Kimiko said previously. He couldn't understand how Sakura could even be friendly towards someone like her, especially considering the type of person Sakura was.

"Who the hell are you to say such things about a person's death? Talking about it as though it's the weather! You should show more sensitivity towards other people's deaths and their friends who are mourning. How would you like it, if someone had that attitude towards the death of someone close to you? You ignorant bitch!"

Kakashi tried to hush Naruto. Kimiko stood up from her seat, walked to Naruto and put her hand on his shoulder. " I'm glad that shinobi like you exist and I honestly hope your dream of Hokage comes true. Maybe I might come to like this place a little bit, if someone like you will actually change something here. Maybe opinions like I voiced will be scolded by everyone in the village but I've got time to wait and see, unlike everyone here. Just don't die on us." She smiled and winked at Naruto.

"Well, Genma let's go! I've got some rotten eggs just waiting to be used for my next experiment and I have just the perfect people to use as my test subjects," she said. "And Kakashi you don't mind paying, do you?"

Everyone turned to Kakashi, expecting him to talk himself out of it, but he mumbled a reply sounding something like, 'no problem Kimiko'.

She did her gesture from beforehand and left with Genma.

* * *

"Was that really necessary with Kakashi?" asked Genma. It was a couple days after the incident at the ramen stand and they were in Kimiko's appartment. Genma had noticed Kakashi was disgruntled about the fact, he had to pay everyone's bill, as he had always gotten out of it.

"You know he deserved it. He's picking up girls for free at brothels with his smooth talking especially with all those women after him, in particular Ayame, that girl from the ramen stand. I think he ought to have taken something from that lecture I gave him, after I found him that night. Anyway, I had to go then or I'd have regurgitated the food right then and there."

"I don't know why you put yourself through eating and drinking, if you throw it up anyway."

Kimiko ignored his last comment and returned to the topic at hand. "You know cos' you're not going to live the normal age expectancy doesn't mean you have to throw away that part of life. Kakashi has a romantic side, I don't doubt that."

"Another admirer?"

"I think I'm bit old for him. Have you read those books that he reads? They're actually really quite cute! But I prefer my male-on-male porn."

Genma shuddered at the thought what type of fantasies crossed her mind about the shinobi in their village from those books that she reads.

"I couldn't imagine you in love anyway."

"It's for the youth. Since my life is futile I don't need love to prove the worth of my existence which will only last a short period before the woman, man or transvestite dies."

"What time is it anyway, Genma?" asked Kimiko. She was working on a simple joke invention which threw rotten eggs and other inanimate objects, and animate objects if you really wished to throw them at great lengths and accuracy.

"Two in the afternoon," replied Genma.

"Want sake?"

"Why do you bother drink, if it has no affect on you? And throw it up?"

"Dunno. Passes the time I guess. Like I said, I like to pretend sometimes that I'm human."

"Have you looked at the expiry date on some of these things?" asked Genma who had wondered over to her kitchen and had taken a peek at the contents in her fridge. He picked each of the items and eyed them with disgust.

"I remember your father saying it was a shame that I didn't keep wine. A new job prospect perhaps if I get bored with this."

"Hmm…doesn't the smell of rotten eggs bother you in the least? Shouldn't you be working on improving the formula for the tofu? And not on this pointless contraption?"

"I'm not really feeling inspired and I need a break from doing all that stuff. And this is more fun."

"You know for someone who's immortal and is reaching hundred you don't act…"

"Don't even dare finishing that statement, Genma. You know me well about how much I hate that sort of lecture talk. It's something I have to hear from those god damn Elders and the Hyuugas who are so stuck up their own asses that they make that poor heiress scared of her own voice. So don't start that shit with me!" snapped Kimiko.

"I think I'll go now."

"Okay, I think I'm going to give this device a try on my favourite family," said Kimko smiling mischievously to herself.

Genma sighed inwardly and excused himself out.

* * *

Genma hadn't expect Kimiko to snap at him like that. Kimiko was a complicated woman. Genma had always felt duty-bound to her especially after his father died. She had been a wild-fired woman, even more then than now. His father told him, what his great uncle believed the reason why she was the way she was: Kimiko was extremely frustrated with Konoha, in particular its politics and its inhabitants. Something that still resided in her today, which is the reason she still isolates herself from the rest of village.

His great uncle befriended her as he himself felt abandoned from his shinobi friends, because he preferred the chemistry of how ninja objects were constructed rather than the weight of shinobi responsibility. Therefore after the chuunin exams, which he failed, he gave up the idea of becoming a shinobi. She had helped him with carrying herbs and chemicals when he dropped them on the street, and had shown a vast knowledge of such things in their short conversation when they were carrying the items to his apartment. He became enticed with her and wished to befriend her. Their friendship was shaky at first; because she had been known to be a promiscuous woman. Kimiko derived this might have been the reason that sparked his sudden interest in her. She offered to sleep with him but he refused and she accepted their friendship was genuine after hearing that refusal. The bond between Kimiko and his father were just as strong as that between his great-uncle and her and even now between him and her were now still as strong.

But Kimiko still never told his great uncle or his father about her past or why she was immortal and their relationship was still somewhat artificial. Genma knew they would never get beneath the surface of the lake known as Kimiko. Even the reason for her grudge against Konoha was a mystery to him. Her inability to age, which is known to the inner circle of Konoha, was kept a secret from the rest of Konoha as she didn't want to be known in her words 'the freak who can't die' when she walks down a street. That is how he interpreted it anyway.

Genma had asked her once a couple of years back for the reason she didn't age. She shrugged and answered, "Maybe at the age of twenty God decided that being a woman wasn't punishment enough. That I happened to be me is perhaps the reason. That I ate not only from the tree of knowledge, but also from the tree of life. Maybe that is the reason for my punishment."

Genma didn't delve any further, as he saw Kimiko shed tears for the first time. It was the only time he saw teardrops ever form on her face. He never mentioned the incident to her again. Genma realised their friendship would only last if remained at a superficial level. She wasn't human anymore and was so different to the rest of humankind that she was cursed to remain isolated for eternity. The only one existing of this immortal species. Her.

* * *

Sakura decided to visit Kimiko, as she needed to retrieve some articles for her next mission. She also had some herbs for Kimiko, gathered from a merchant who often helped her to obtain rarer herbs. She could smell the rotten eggs in her apartment from the other end of the street and felt embarrassed knowing the owner of the odor, which the whole street had to suffer. She assumed the smell of rotten eggs was for that new invention she had talked about after their last encounter at the ramen stand. She rang the doorbell, and as the owner of the apartment opened the door to welcome her, did an intense wave of the stench come out.

"Ah, Sakura I had a feeling you would be coming by. Did you get what I asked for?" said Kimiko, letting her in.

"Yeah," answered Sakura trying not to wring her face in disgust due to the smell as she delivered the pouch with the two herbs she asked for. "And I am going to be closer to home for this mission if you need any herbs from around here."

"Thanks. That's a bit surprise about it being so close by. But this here will do me for now," said Kimiko referring to the pouch she now had in her hands. "There's not really anything I need from around here, the local market is sufficient enough. When are you leaving?"

"I'm leaving in a couple of hours. I need a couple of things."

Sakura then handed her a list. Kimiko then walked off into the backroom where she kept all the supplies.

"Hmm...sounds like a heck of mission for it to be so close by. I suspected with your old team mate back, you'd be going on these types of missions. You're one good medic, you'll soon be surpassing Tsunade from the things I've heard from Genma," shouted from the back room.

Kimiko reappeared and said, "I've got most of what you need, but come back later today and I'll have made the other things. Okay?"

She nodded.

"How's Tsunade keeping up?"

"She was at the Konoha Council, a couple days ago and has been in a worse mood than usual."

Kimiko rolled her eyes and replied irritably,"Giving her stick, as usual. Hmph. Nothing new there, displeased as usual. I dunno why they just put themselves as Hokage. Maybe they'd figure what the hell work is, instead of sitting on their backsides all day, complaining about a world that they've lost touch with. Or maybe they might know they'd have a coup d'etat on their hands, as soon as they stepped inside the Hokage building."

Sakura wasn't sure how to deal with this outburst from Kimiko, who tended to remain indifferent about the politics of Konoha, even changing the subject if it was ever raised. Her usual callous remark on the subject, "I just make things" finished with a shrugged, highlighted this particularly well.

"Are the Konoha Council that bad? Could they have, perhaps, prevented...Sasuke leaving?"

"The Uchiha boy? I really don't know. I just make..."

Before Kimiko could finish her sentence, she noticed Sakura shedding tears.

"You saw him again, didn't you?"

Sakura nodded and somewhat dumbfounded, that Kimiko was able to interpret her reaction correctly.

"Come here, Sakura," said Kimiko offering a hug and a shoulder to cry on. She took the girl into her arms.

Sakura gave into her emotions and cried. "I don't understand why he had to leave," sobbed Sakura. "We all loved him so much. He choose revenge over us. Why? Why did his brother have to kill his clan. He'd be here and we'd be happy as team seven. We wouldn't be chasing him all over the five lands to find him. Naruto wouldn't have left us for two and half years. Why? His brother did this to all of us."

This is why she had become disillusioned from this world, she thought. She questioned whether she should sit here and tolerate it in resignation through this disillusionment on her behalf. She had tried half-heartily to re-connect with her own lost humanity, but turning a blind eye to rest of the village's events, had led her to exactly what she had tried desperately not to become: Disconnected from the rest of humanity. She realised, she rarely showed real emotions to other humans in hope to deal with her own shortcomings, the last time, besides this one was almost ten years ago when Genma asked her about her immortality. She knew emotions connected people, but her own had been kept under lock and key, unable to share them, in fear of misunderstanding. This is one of the fundamental problems she had to deal with, so that she did not lose touch with the outside world.

If she could not connect with human beings in the sharing of her and their emotions, she would perhaps try from another viewpoint. Something she already did, help, but not from a distance, not through her expertises of making objects malleable for her on a scientific level, but nearer. Science is shallow, only able to explain how things, but not how. It's like the cynic, it's able to tell you the price of everything, but the value of nothing. She would try understand, not simply know. She would try and help.

Kimiko was a bit shook-up from the conversation with Sakura and had been going through her library of books in another room, which was meant to be her bedroom, but since she did not need to sleep she turned it into a library. It was full of books not only on chemistry, but a greater majority of it was of Philosophy, Politics and Literature. She picked up a red book, whose pages had turned yellow with time and paged through it. Disillusionment overcame her as she thought of the politics of Konoha and its people not only throughout the years but also during the foundation. She resigned herself to books, after she departed from the social life of Konoha those eighty years ago and saw how people tried to put into practise in Konoha what she read about or would be written about in years to come. She remembered someone saying to her: "one ounce of action is worth a ton of theory". What she feared is that people won't realise how lucky they are and how fragile the state they are and that one false move could bring down the whole of Konoha.

Something she saw since its the foundation, the ideals of the past still lurked behind this semblance of each Hokage ready to strike lives, once again. She felt that Tsunade was walking a tie rope, and she needed to prevent that.

Someone knocked at her door. She closed the door to her room and locked it. She put the key into the bag attached to the belt of her trousers. She then let in her one and only regular visitor: Genma.

"I've been thinking that maybe I should visit Tsunade," she said to Genma as he walked into the kitchen. Kimiko didn't like other people in her library.

"The last time you went to visit Tsunade, we had to bring you kicking and screaming."

"There's something that's been bothering me. I heard she and the Konoha Council don't get along. I'm worried."

"What makes you think that?"

"I may not particularly like this village, but I worry at times for it."

"Do you think she's unfit for the job?"

"It's not that, I'm worried the Konoha Council thinks that she's unfit for the job."

Genma knew she had a bit of a grudge against many of the Elders in the village and in particular that of the Konoha council.

"Should I make an appointment?"

"Not necessary. I'm going to go there now," said Kimiko in a dazed voice.

Genma decided to excuse himself quickly, as he planned to avoid a run-in with two hot-tempered women.

* * *

_Human beings have to bear up and face whatever's meant to be. There's a courage and dignity in ordinary people. That can be breathtaking. But you're the opposite. Your courage has gone wild, you're like a brute, that can only foam at the mouth. You aren't baring up, you are bearing down."-_ Seamus Heaney, _The Cure at Troy_

She had enough integrity to listen at the door to check if Tsunade was actual doing something, although she had her own doubts about that. One of her assistants came across her and asked, "Who are you? And what are you doing?"

"Is she in...?"

"Erm..." The assistant was unsure how to reply, but Tsunade's voice interrupted his train of thought, which was loud and booming and could be heard across the other end of the corridor. She seemed to be furious and Kimiko detected the words 'Konoha Council' and 'Elders' from this outburst of Tsunade.

Kimiko took her chance and stepped into the room. Tsunade stopped in mid rant, as she eyed Kimiko and said, "Oh God, another one of them. What the hell do you want?"

"To give advice, help...possibly. Heck, the Elders maybe a group of good-for-nothings, but they're here and one has to deal with them."

Tsunade barely knew the woman and only had the information from the file about her, despite part of it denied to her from the Elders with the excuse: "Kimiko was their business". She was immortal, but she was unusual case of immortality as she was like the Kazekage , and was protected by an invisible external force, who encased her in a "reflective shield" to protect her from outside threats. For the Kazekage it maybe sand, but for her it was described in the file as something "unworldly", "god-like", as one couldn't experience it through sense impressions. The element that made it up was of something "that has not ever seen before". This protective shield also made it difficult for her to feel pain and whatever was inflicted upon her would reflect it, in that direction, hence the description "reflective shield". This was perhaps the only sense impression one could experience. Any more about her so-called "powers" was either in files Tsunade was denied to or "no more could be stated about the matter". This included her incapability to age, even extending to such things as not needing to breathe, no heartbeats and the inability to grow hair, nails and so on. Tsunade thought of her as a walking corpse, which perhaps an opinion that resided well with her sickly appearance.

It was perhaps their first and only meeting at the beginning of her reign, that made her express this less than desirable view of Kimiko. She had been unwilling to meet her and when she did, she came across ignorant about the political going-ons in Konoha, as she had aloof during the whole. But one statement that Tsunade remembered crystal clear, which she said when she was about to leave in her usual impartial tone of voice : "I've been here since the beginning of Foundation Konoha and there are people who don't like the philosophy of your Grandfather. Each Hokage have carried this philosophy, but despite this, the people who have disagreed with it have always prevailed in most of the political matters. It's a ridiculous façade that Konoha carries."

Tsunade took this as an offence against her grandfather, but in the back of her mind she asked whether there was some truth about it, especially having had dealt with the Konoha Council and Danzou. She had tried denying it, but it had become increasingly difficult to do that.

"And how does that affect you?"

"Despite the fact, that a heart may not have any more use to me, I still have one. I've come to offer my help, since I think the Konoha Council is Konoha's worst asset and should be dealt with accordingly. I can't watch Konoha dig its own grave."

"What makes you think we're digging our grave?"

"I have my own reasons, but I've come with an offer you might like..."

"And that would be?"

"The Konoha Council are malleable, when you know how to mould them. They would give an arm and leg, just to put me in a research facility to discover what am I and what Konoha could use me for. It would give them the upper hand from all the other Hidden Villages and not only that... They're a pair of paranoid bastards and would be glad not to live under the "threat of Kimiko"."

"Why do they think you're a threat?"

"Oh, is that part of the file 'restricted'? Hmmm, well the Konoha Council like to have control of situations and when someone like me, who can do things that they don't understand, it makes them feel uncomfortable and not in control. They get paranoid and assume things, such as me trying to destroy Konoha like what happened three years ago. The problem with that, despite this immortality I possess, I couldn't even defeat genin. I have no sense of co-ordination and I'm incredibly unfit. I remember Genma's father making me run over a bench in the first part of an obstacle course. I slipped and hit my head against the ground every time. I doubt, I could ever be considered a threat to Konoha."

"Why the change of mind?"

"I saw Sakura this morning and she seemed worried about you. This Uchiha thing is always at the back of her mind."

Tsunade interrupted her.

"I'm well aware of that, he was her team mate and her first crush, it's no wonder it's always in the back of her mind. Despite her worries for me, she knows perfectly well that I can deal whatever that Konoha Council."

"I'm not denying that, but what bothers them is that I feel something is out of joint. People, who do know me, question my loyalties for Konoha and I'm not here to prove them. I've come here for Sakura's sake. She is a likable character and when I saw her cry like she did for this Uchiha boy when she came to see me for supplies, it tugged at some strings in my heart."

"So what are you saying?"

"He wants to avenge his family, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what they say about avengers?"

"No."

"The man who seeks revenge should dig two graves."

"So you also believe revenge is "a wild kind..."

"...of justice. Exactly," said Kimiko, finishing off Tsunade's sentence.

"So what are you suggesting?"

"Why did the Konoha Council try not to prevent this nor tried to pursue the matter, after leaving? His intentions were obvious, they could have stopped this easily. Did they expect Sasuke to betray Konoha? Especially, why is there a member of the ANBU root in Sakura's team, despite its disbandment all those years ago... Why is Danzou interested in this matter, that he even decided to betray Konoha's trust and tap into the restricted files? I think Konoha Council know something and they're trying their best for us to not discover it."

Kimiko's suspicions had not occurred to her and what made things worse, she knew how true and logical they were. Tsunade did not want to appear that she had been completely blind about this to Kimiko and so answered, "I have had my suspicions, but since you know Konoha Council's behaviour better than I do. What do you propose we should do?"

"I would like access to the files about the Uchiha massacre and the man who caused it, who's name I admittedly can't remember..."

Tsunade wasn't sure, if she should bet all her hopes of getting rid of the Konoha Council on a woman, who couldn't even remember Itachi Uchiha's name. But she knew, if Kimiko did, she would be able to choose people more capable for the job of the Council.

"And if you discover something...how are you going to prove it?"

"I'm gonna ask them..."

"What do you mean? Simply ask them, whether they know something about the Uchiha massacre, that isn't in the files, isn't something that can be simply done."

"Yes, it can be. I have a plan. The smell coming from my apartment isn't the rotten eggs I've been using to throw at the Hyuuga household, but the new and improved recipe for my truth-telling tofu." (Tsunade and most of the Konoha ninja thought she had the most cheesiest names for her inventions and their descriptions.) "And the Council will be my guinea pigs, as there's this herb I've been investigating and the reaction with my old recipe suggests promising results. I just need to solve the problem with the smell and its taste. But I can't promise anything."

"Fine, but I would to keep this agreement between us. Don't even mention it to Genma or Sakura."

"No Problem."

Both of them shook hands in agreement, despite Tsunade's second thoughts about it.

* * *

Kimiko laid the file with the contents about the Uchiha massacre on the table and sat down. She let out a long sigh.

"Okay, let's see what we've got here," she said out loud and opened the file.

She didn't know what the man looked like, who had committed the massacre and so the picture in the file would be her first encounter with a man, who had caused more than enough grief for Sakura and her friends. She picked up the picture of the man and her heart quivered and she felt sick in the stomach.

"It can't be..." she choked. He looked so much like him, despite, perhaps looking a bit younger. Tears whelmed from her eyes. "Have you've come back to haunt me, after almost eighty years? God, isn't eternity with you on my conscience enough?...for fuck sake!"

She stood-up and walked about the room in frustration. She turned to the wall opposite the table with the file and banged her fist to try and release the emotions that she had suppressed for so long. This was all in vain, as she slumped to the floor and sobbed for an almost an hour. What had prevented her from living in recluse for the rest of eternity was the knock on her door from Sakura, who had come to pick-up the rest of the supplies for her mission.

Kimiko tried to pick herself up from the floor and glue together the façade that she kept up for eighty years, which had been smashed to pieces like a glass, that had fallen from a table. This glass could never be mended or replaced, it was an antique, fragile and delicate. It would not smash into five or six big bits and a few small bits, so it makes it easy to clean-up, and you're unlikely to cut yourself and can be easily replaced. This glass smashes into a thousand pieces, so you can never pick-up everything up and you nearly always cut yourself, as you attempt to do so in the long procedure.

"One minute, I'll be right there."

Kimiko shut the door to her room and locked it. She then walked to the door and opened to find the pink-haired girl.

"Sakura, what are you...Shit!" said Kimiko, as it dawned her, that she promised to get Sakura. "I'm really sorry. It went completely out of head, I've been somewhat pre-occupied with improving one of my recipes for my truth-telling tofu, as Tsunade has been nagging at me to get it finished."

This was a weak excuse from Kimiko, and Sakura noticed. There was no humour in her voice, which was perhaps the biggest give way. Something was very wrong with Kimiko, thought Sakura. But she said nothing and just replied, "It's okay, I can perhaps do without."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I have to go. Bye."

"Bye..." breathed Kimiko, unable to even give a smile and see her off with a 'mind yourself'.

She closed the door and stood in the hall. She flexed right hand and whispered, "Fuck."

She unlocked the door to her library-, and attempted to deal with her demons.


	2. Chapter 2

So...here's the next installment! Enjoy!

I'd like to thank my reviewers! And my wonderful betareader, who will be correcting my chapter while I'm holidays ;)

"_[...] but it's not easy being quiet and good, it's like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you've already fallen over; you don't seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength [...]_" - Margaret Atwood, _Alias Grace_

Chapter 2

Kimiko was sitting with her back against a cedar in the forest near the training grounds, having a cigarette. She was in deep thought, after reading through the whole contents of the Uchiha's file and was bemused. She just couldn't understand it. All the information about him before the massacre suggested he was the least unlikely candidate to do such a thing. He wouldn't have just killed his family out of ego, it was too out of character. Heck, she could spot a Konoha hater from a mile away and this boy certainly wasn't one. It was as though the night he killed his family, some wholly other person had taken over.

The file suggested the change of his behaviour was when he started not turning up to clan meetings and speaking out against the clan. The person, who had written up this file, was obviously clueless about the ways of that clan. This guy was a bloody genius and had fought in the Third Ninja War. He wouldn't have just killed his family out of ego, it was too out of character. He must have seen that something was out of joint about the beliefs of the Uchiha clan. Then came the suicide of his best friend Shisui, which was considered suspicious. It was thought, that he killed him as well, so that he could gain the Mangekyo Sharingan.

These are Kimiko thoughts, the mind isn't well ordered or thought out. One jumps to one thought to another. The readers know he didn't agree with the clan had planned, but Kimiko doesn't know the clan had been planning a coup d'etat. "Out of joint" suggests to me something small, which it obviously it isn't (subtle irony on my part, but if no-one gets it...not the end of the world. I also stole this from Hamlet...since I spent 2 years straight studying that play for my final exams ;) so I had to put it in.) She's trying to figure out Itachi's motive for killing the clan and she hasn't quite got there...that is why the memory is important and why she visits the Konoha Council. It's suppose to be akward and vague.

Or maybe, perhaps, a test run, to see if he could really go through with it, thought Kimiko.

She took out from her pouch the photo of the boy from the file and took a drag of her cigarette, as she stared at it.

Kimiko said to herself, "It's like seeing a fucking a ghost from the past. Honestly, I should expect with all their intermarrying to see similarities, but this is ridiculous. He was a bastard child and since I...-"

Kimiko paused. She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"You didn't have any children," was what she said instead, to prevent herself from saying what happened, as once it is said out loud, it is the truth. She couldn't bear to string the words to make a sentence of what had happened, and the image in her mind was unbearable in itself. There it would remain to haunt her forever, since death would never come to grant her mind to peace.

Perhaps, the only difference between their appearances was that he had not possessed the Sharingan, whereas this boy did.

She lit up another cigarette. Her hand with the photo flopped down.

This cousin of his, Shisui, had reached out to Itachi in some way. Itachi didn't really have friends, just work colleagues who were twice his age.

He must have been the most socially inept person.

Not only had he witnessed countless lives lost in war, but had been raised by the infamous Uchiha clan. Despite the fact he was considered a genius above of all others in his generation and became an ANBU squad leader at the age of thirteen. He was obviously was pushed by his clan to no ends.

Why did his cousin go extra out of his way to befriend him. She had managed to get hold of the file about Shisui and it seemed odd for him to befriend the younger Uchiha out of the pure kindness of his heart. Then it came to her.

"They have no shame, those lot, they really don't," whispered the brunette to herself. She took a last drag, stubbed the cigarette and lit up another. "They're nearly bad as that bastard. The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems at times."

She propped her hand up again to have a look at the photo. There was something else that bothered her about him, but she just couldn't quite put her finger on it and had hoped a change of scenery might help to figure it out, but it seemed to prove pointless.

"You're really acting out of it, lately. Since when did you smoke?" said a familiar voice, snapping her out of her thoughts. She put the photo, before Genma thought she'd become infatuated with the Uchiha's notorious mass murderer.

"Dunno, things from the past keep turning up, I thought it would make it more authentic. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

"Sounds rather defeatist, doesn't it?"

"Sad, isn't it? That I've arrived at this."

Genma sat down next to her. "I thought you were concentrating on getting that tofu done."

"You could say, I've been somewhat distracted by something that I can't get anything done."

"And that would be?"

"It broke, it shattered into a thousand pieces. I keep trying to pick them up, but each piece keeps cutting me."

"What broke?"

"Do you think ANBU cry about their missions?"

"Maybe. Some, perhaps."

"Did I ever tell, that I found an ANBU crying here about seven years?"

"No."

"You know the only way, one can distinguish ANBU is by their hair. He had the mask of a raven and black hair in a low pony-tail. I thought his hair suited his mask."

Genma was shocked to hear this, there was only one person, who matched the description, especially in that time frame.

"That sounds like Itachi Uchiha, but he wouldn't cry full stop. And even if he did, it wouldn't be because of an ANBU mission."

Genma had figured it out for her; what had been bothered her so much, when she thought of him as an ANBU. It was him, she had found eight years ago, sobbing quietly to himself.

She remembered it quite well, she was looking for a packet of herbs that had dropped out of her pouch, earlier on the day, as she had watched Genma trained. She had come across the cedar, which held many memories both happy and painful, not realising that the training grounds had grown so big to include the old tree.

_I can't believe it's still here, she thought to herself, as the tree came in sight._

_She walked towards it and looked at the engraving: 'existence precedes essence' signed by K. and K. She reached out to it, to put her hand over the old words carved into the bark of the tree, that had once been near the bottom of the tree, but now she had to go onto her tip toes to touch it. Something had prevented her to touch it and thought it might have been the protective shield acting up, although something like that had never happened before. _

_She then found herself face to face with an ANBU. He tried to punch her out of the way, and although it seemed to make contact with her skin, it didn't have the effect the desired effect the ANBU assumed it would have. So they stood there looking at each for a few moments in silence. Both trying to assess the situation they were in._

"_You were crying, weren't you? I never know why shinobi have to hide their emotions, as it denatures them as humans. Somewhat Kantian, don't you think?"_

"_Excuse me, I have a mission," was the reply she received from the dark-haired male and then he was gone._

She had had an epiphany.

"Do you think he takes care of glass better than I do?" She asked herself.

"What glass?"

"I have to found out what's behind it, but I need to finish up with the tofu. But I need someone to try it out on..." She looked at her companion. "Genma?"

"Yeah."

"I need a favour. You know the tofu I've been working on?"

"Yeah..." said Genma, with an undertone of suspicion.

"I've solved the problem with the smell, but the taste is something I can't solve on my own."

"No."

"Please, it's desperate."

"No."

"Then out of love for Konoha."

"No."

"Security...?"

"You've gotta be joking me."

"Damn, it's desperate. I'd honestly do it myself, but all food makes me nauseous. Please. Fucking hell please. I'm on my knees here. I really don't know who else to ask."

Genma had noticed a change in Kimiko, ever since she had that meeting with Tsunade. That she was now begging for him to fix a bug in one of her inventions. She would never in her right mind, pushed herself to get something like that done. She didn't have the easy-going or full of the sarcastic she attitude normally possessed. Instead, she was serious, and her mind was always wondering off from the conversation or the situation on hand. Something had happened, and he needed to know what.

"Fine."

"Thank you," said Kimiko with a sincerity that was rare coming from her.

* * *

After an uncountable number of puking and two visits to the hospital, the tofu almost imitated the taste, but any questions raised could be explained through the use of herbs, or bad cooking

Now came the real test, to use on the Konoha Council undetected. An impossible feat? Maybe. But the whole thing, that went around this boy Itachi, she could not leave to hang dry. It utterly bemused her and she was willingly to take the risk.

Immortality had left her aimless and so she lived with each day as it comes. Many would complain a repetitiveness and tediousness in this life, but it was exactly that, which made her continue her lifestyle. The work, which she did, kept her mind from wandering under the surface of the ocean. Even better, the type of the work she did kept her in touch with reality. So, if something from the ocean came to pull her down and drown, reality's arm reached out to her and pulled her out. Another form was not only in work, but in Genma and increasingly, in Sakura. Their friendships had kept her mind on the present and on the situations, on hand.

This she had to thank Genma's granduncle Hideaki Shiranui, who had saved her from drowning in this ocean through his friendship. After her decision a little less than eighty years ago to sever all ties with the outside world, she occupied most of her time with books. But the problem with books, is that they are they make you think and reflect on your own world, especially good ones. Books pulled her down to the bottom of the ocean. Hideaki had reached out to her to pull her out of the ocean, after ten years of trying to stay afloat.

Kimiko had improved, she still floated on the surface, her conscious, but sometimes she fell into the depths of the ocean into the unconscious. It was her love of books that did this, but she used it as a form of self-help, she searched in them a way to survive down there. Her many years had told her otherwise, and despite this, she still did it.

The glass had shattered and could not be mended. It was to tell the others she could stay on top and it had worked. Itachi Uchiha did not pull her down, but many things she dropped down there in that ocean had resurfaced through him, and the more she tried to force each thing down, the more things that resurfaced. This told her she could not live her life in ignorance and she would have to deal with what she had dumped there, if she is to live on this earth for eternity.

She had to take this risk, as she felt that if the elder Uchiha had caused these things to resurface. There might be a way to deal with them through him. It was a ridiculous theory, but she had eternity to waste her time on such things.

* * *

"I have an idea, well more like a plan," revealed Kimiko, who was in Tsunade's office.

"For what?"

"I'm going to ask the Konoha Council about the Uchiha Massacre."

"Did you discover something?"

"Yeah."

"What?" asked Tsunade with a tone of fear.

"Do you know why Konoha was founded and how?"

"Yeah, that's basic history. Before Konoha was founded, shinobi were individual clans working as mercenaries for various clans. The Senju clan offered a truce with the Uchiha clan, as they were both the strongest clans, the possibility of something like Konoha would be only plausible through the truce between the two. The Uchiha clan agreed and Konoha was born."

"Did your grandfather ever told you old the conflict that existed between the leader of the Uchiha clan and the clan itself? You know the fight at the Valley of The End."

"Yeah."

"Did you know Madara summoned with his Sharingan the Jinchuuriki, namely the nine-tail fox in that fight against your grandfather."

Tsunade was speechless. She had never been told that.

"I didn't expect you to know that. Only the Elders know."

"You're suggesting...It can't be..."

"The Konoha Council fear me and have had their ANBU spy on me. I am immortal, but offensive-wise I am no threat. So imagine when they suspect the Bijuu to be the doing of the Uchiha's."

"The Konoha Council can be ruthless but not reckless. They would need evidence."

"The problem is that they suspect anyone, if you're out of their 'Safety Zone', whose boundaries are pretty limited. But to go out of their way to order such a thing, may suggest there's some truth behind it. "

"But still, why would the Third allow such a thing? Why would the Uchiha want to destroy Konoha?"

"I know there's a lot of things I don't understand and there are certain holes in the theory. Like why was Sasuke allowed to live? It just doesn't seem like the Third to allow the massacre. I need to prove my theory. It could be nothing, but I have to know. That's why I want to organise a meeting with the Konoha Council."

Tsunade slumped back in her chair trying to convince herself Kimiko's theory was not true. "It just...it just can't be..."

"And if it is true?"

"What is this plan?"

"I was going to put the tofu, which I have finally fixed, in their food, when they dine with the Feudal Lord. The substance takes about twelve hours for it to work and they won't notice the difference, unless someone tells them that they're under its influence. Then they can control its effects on themselves."

"Are you sure it works?"

"Well...you see...it would be a good chance to try it out and take down the Konoha Council. It would be like hitting two birds with one stone."

Tsunade looked at her skeptically. "And you expect me to agree with this?"

"Well, I just want you to sneak the tofu into their dinners. Everything else is me. Your part in this would not be suspected, due to the bad relations I supposedly have with you, especially since everything between your grandfather and I wasn't exactly too peachy."

"And if I disagree with this, will you do it anyway?"

Tsunade already knew the answer. She massaged her head and looked at her cup of sake. She got up from the desk.

"Fine, but on one condition. If you get the chance try to see if they know any of Danzou's intentions."

Kimiko got up, grinning. She was glad that she didn't have Tsunade against her. She walked towards the door.

Before Kimiko left. Tsunade asked," Why the sudden change of heart? Did Sakura's tears affect you that much?"

"You know, people killing at the age of twelve really should be isolated cases. But training them to do such a thing, and _then_ act indifferent to it. It really should be punishment by torture, and life imprisonment. I think many things in this world would be different and perhaps, dare I say it, better, to condemn such things rather than embrace it. I want to try prevent the fate, that will come crashing down due to the ignorance of our lifestyle. It was this ignorance that almost destroyed me. We haven't realised the consequences that come from the way we live."

Kimiko left the room with a click of the door.

* * *

Tsunade observed something in this woman. She may have a dislike the village, but Kimiko felt that something was fundamentally wrong with this world. She had isolated herself from it as though she couldn't relate to it. She had realised that the base of this whole society was built on something unsturdy and if it's unsturdy at the base everything will eventually come crashing down. Tsunade felt that maybe Kimiko knew it was going to fall and there will be devastating consequences if nobody prevents it. Perhaps she wanted the people to try again and build on something more stable, before it's too late. Tsunade had read about people, who thought similarly to her, but like the average person she shoved these people and their ideas to the side as non-sense. Tsunade feared for this to be true as everything she had believed in, worked and strived for would seem pointless. It terrified her.

* * *

As Kimiko left Tsunade's office, she came across Sakura, a brown-haired jounin and a pale-faced boy, who she vaguely remembered from the ramen stand. Kimiko was the person, Sakura was least expecting to come out of that door.

"Ah, Sakura how's life been treating you?"

"Kimiko, Genma is looking for you."

"That man really needs to get married. He possesses the requirement every husband must have. Following you around all day, trying to figure what you're doing."

"I thought you and Genma..."

"Sakura, that was a good joke. I think I'm a bit too old for him. You're probably closer to his age than I am. You interested?"

Sakura turned into a tomato. "I-It's al-lright," choked Sakura, as she put her hands up in defense.

"Shame...Oh well, not the end of the world. I've get to going. See you around."

She beckoned them off with her usual gesture.

"You're looking for a wife for Genma?" asked Kakashi with humour in his voice. He had heard the conversation down the hallway.

"Well, some sort of life-time companion that isn't me. Maybe not marriage. Personally, I think marriage shouldn't really have the creditability it does have anyway."

"Why is that?"

"Everyone expects so much from marriage, like romance and as soon as the romance has dies it's the end of the marriage. Marriage is nothing but economics and politics to keep the legitimate offspring in check. It's just an efficient partnership to keep the social structure working. The whole notion of love in marriage only came into fashion about forty or so years ago. A life-time companion is a better idea. It suggests an equality in the bond, unlike those you find in marriages. Neither does it suggests it should between man or woman or nor that love needs to be involved at all."

"How do you deal with it?" asked Kakashi, referring to how she dealt with the isolation and loss, that such things as lifetime bonds would never exist for her.

"Kakashi, do me a favour. Never, ever do what I do. You may have lost friends, family and lovers, but you only have one life to live and you can't spend a life time trying to avoid the hurt. It will happen; it's inevitable. You may feel that it's unfair, that you got to live and the others didn't, but it happened. The people you have lost don't want to see you keeping everyone at a arm's length. The regret you feel caused you to keep all those hopes and dreams of romance in your head. I'm talking about those books of yours. Life offers chances to live out those romances, and if you don't go out of your way to grab them, then that is the one thing you can truly blame yourself for. So go find a nice boy or girl, like that one from the ramen stand. She seemed pretty keen on you. I see it when I found you at the brothels, sweet-talking girls into free services. You long for a loving touch. I know you're a shinobi, but you're also a human. Don't ever forget that."

"What makes you different?"

"'Cause the day I became immortal was the day I stopped being a human."

"Is that why you never married my father?"

"No, he believed I was your mother."

Kimiko read the shock expression from his eye after hearing this.

"Don't worry I'm not. He thought so for most of his life, despite my telling him otherwise."

"He knew that it was unacceptable for women out of wedlock to have children and since I had regular sexual relations, he thought it was me. He offered to married to me, although he never loved me."

"Do you know, who she was?"

"You know how shinobi are, if they're away on long missions. He wasn't much different. It could have been anyone. She left the child to your father to avoid the problem of taking care a child. Your father was a good man. He didn't leave you to starve. He took responsibility of you. You were lucky."

"Kakashi...I have to go now. I've got to find that pseudo-husband of mine. You have to fix him up with some girl and go on a double date together. It will give me a nice well-earned beak from his antics. He might find some other poor girl to bother."

Kimiko left to look for Genma and Kakashi walked off wondering why on earth Genma was so attached to that woman. Especially, since he could charm any woman he fancied. But maybe it was just that: the one woman, who he could not charm was what he wanted or what he needed so that he wouldn't have to leave some girl husband-less or companion-less. Or as Kimiko would like to put it, when the inevitable time would come. Shinobi had to abandon the idea of romance and real friendship, if they wish to serve village and land without the guilty conscience about their true fate. Kakashi couldn't understand why Kimiko didn't agree with the way he dealt with this.

* * *

Kimiko had gotten word. Tsunade had got the two Elders to eat the tofu and all the rest was left up to her. She had made an appointment with the Konoha Council and met with little restraint or in other words questions or raised eyebrows about her sudden urgency to meet with them.

Except for one person, who had not taken part in the feast but suspected someone or some people were trying to upset the illusion that had blended in so perfectly into the background known as reality.

Kimiko had dressed herself up for the Konoha Council. Something she would never have done under normal circumstances. The fault with the tofu was that although ninja with incredible power could fall into its trap, if the ninja were to become aware he or she has fooled, then the tofu will be considered useless. As the ninja will be able to control or prevent the substance in him or her to work on them.

She was greeted by the two members coldly as she entered the room and once she had settled herself, they did not hesitate to get straight to business.

"Have you reconsidered our offer?" asked Homura sternly

"Possibly..." replied Kimiko

"If it were any other person, we would not have hesitated to use force. But we don't know the extent of your power that reaches beyond immortality and that incident shortly after the foundation of Konoha. We did not want to risk the security of Konoha. As you already know we consider you a security risk and threat to Konoha," said the female of the two, Kohane.

"We don't know if you will turn against us. Your condemnation of the shinobi life style and lack of patriotism suggests our worst fears. The services you provide for Konoha has been taken into account, " continued Homura

"However, we know the services you provide could be also used against us. We're fully against the idea of letting you continue your services for Konoha," said Kohane furthering the argument.

"But each Hokage has insisted on continuing your service. For two reasons. First is that we'd be able to keep a close eye on you and your activities," stated Homura.

"The other reason, although we felt do not apply as equally, is that you might feel more alienated by the village," argued Kohane.

There was a short silence, which Kimiko took advantage of to lay down her first card.

"Was I then suspected of bringing the Bijuu to the village?" she asked

"The thought had crossed our mind," said Homura.

"But no," affirmed Kohane.

"Who was?" inquired Kimiko.

"The Uchiha Clan," disclosed Homura. Kimiko had a feeling she would have to egg them to get to admit anything of real importance. She knew a struggle existed between Madara and the First Hokage, one she knew all too well and had gotten pulled into. Did they feel old rivalry was arising from the ashes of an old flame, that she had thought had been well and truly stamped out?

"Were they involved?" questioned Kimiko.

"They denied their involvement," revealed Kohane.

"Did you get ANBU to spy on the Uchiha clan?" queried Kimiko, hoping the two wouldn't notice that they've gone off topic and how they were freely revealing all this information, despite none of this being stated in any of the Hokage's files.

"Yes," responded Homura.

"Was it Itachi Uchiha?" interrogated Kimiko.

"Yes," confirmed Kohane.

"Why?" asked Kimiko.

Another voice came from the entrance of the room and declared,"The Uchiha Clan were using him to spy on the ANBU, they were planning a coup d'etat. As we discovered the truth, we ordered him to kill the Uchiha clan. He did so with the exception of his brother. We can see what happens, when we let Uchiha members live. They betray our village."

The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, a stern looking elderly man with a bandaged arm and another around one of his eyes.

"Danzou, why did you reveal that information? She has no need to know that!"

This is Danzou, thought Kimiko. The one who founded ANBU root and caused not only each Hokage a problem, but herself, as it was the black ops, who had been sent to spy on her. The Konoha Council were bad enough, but this man was a problem in itself.

"_You _would have eventually," told Danzou the two Elders."I was listening into your conversation, and as I suspected, something wasn't right when this girl wanted to meet you so urgently. My suspicions have proven to be right. Kohane and Homura, you have been tricked."

"I have to applaud you, Danzou," declared Kimiko. "I suggest you two better control your chakra flow between your Super Ego and the Id before you reveal other information."

"How?" demanded Homura.

"The tofu you had yesterday was my new invention. You were all my guinea pigs." Kimiko decided to add a piece of sarcasm to her response with a tone to match. "All for the security of Konoha."

Danzou then turned to the immortal woman and remarked, "Kimiko, I had my suspicions about you. I believed, you had sympathies for the Uchiha Clan. Providing a comfortable bed not only for one minor family member but for one of the heads of the clan and one of Konoha's biggest traitors, Madara Uchiha."

"That son of a bitch ruined my fucking life," responded Kimiko angrily and her right hand hanging at its side was then clenched into a fist.

"I have seen enough of you promiscuous and power-hungry women in my life. You wished to control Konoha with him after he takes over."

"You're putting me at the same level as that bastard," she snapped bitterly. Danzou was hammering away at her weak spot and she lost it.

"You gave into two sins of life: lust and greed for power. You seduced him and pleasured him in return for power over Konoha and a great and powerful clan. That other man Kira was simply a stepping stone for you and after you got Madara to kill, you would be free of him. Your claims of being 'forced' into relations with Madara, I doubt greatly. You have a history promiscuous behaviour, and are now string along another one of our great ninjas Genma Shiranui. Are you looking for another Madara Uchiha to satisfy your needs?"

That last statement had done it. She had been pulled into the ocean by it and was lost in the waters of the unconscious. The unconscious was where the truth of her previous life lay and also the resting place of her 'awesome' powers. The one fault the Gods did not see as they converted her from deity to human, that they, the creators of humankind and other beings had not realised what great novelists already knew. Fowles said, "We know a world is an organism, not a machine. We also know that a genuinely created world must be independent of its creator; a planned world is a dead world. It is only when our characters and events begin to disobey us that they begin to live."

Kimiko had done exactly this.

She was in a trance. She screamed in frustration as her clenched fist raised with a powerful energy and then punched the ground. The force was unbelievable, it had been unlike anything any ninja had witnessed. It was inhuman, god-like. All her emotions that had been suppressed for so many years, that had built up, had been released through this force. She had destroyed the same amount of space of the market place, which she took in similar hysteria eighty years ago. Fortunately she did not kill sixty villagers in her fit rage, unlike her previous demonstration of power those eighty years ago. Danzou and the Konoha Council had managed to scramble out of the building just in time. She, herself, was saved through the curse of her immortality.

Kimiko awoke from her moment of madness to see the destruction she had inflicted around her. She knew she would be arrested and could forget about any of this coming to the light of day. She had to leave Konoha _now_ and try to contact Tsunade over carrier pigeon. She needed to get this information to Tsunade without suspicions about Tsunade's involvement in her plan. Kimiko feared for her removal, and even more so, who would take over as a Hokage. Konoha's future is what she feared the most, if the Konoha Council would do something behind not only the Fifth's back, but also their team mate and lifetime companion: The Third. Kimiko couldn't imagine the Third allowing such a thing like the Uchiha Massacre to happen and so she assumed they did it behind his back. If the Hokage had been insufficient for the job, who had led the village by the philosophy of the founder's of Konoha, the Council might take someone of a very different philosophy.


	3. Chapter 3

**My betareader got a slightly bit confused at some parts, that no editing could ever help, so I put at the bottom a reference part, just to clear up any confusion.**

**I'd also like to thank Purewaterlily for her betaing, or this would turned out a very different story with a lot of inconsistencies. **

_

* * *

His last words:_

"_Die, my dear? Why that's the last thing I'll do!" Groucho Marx_

* * *

"Lava Release!" shouted the Iwagakure shinobi with the last of his energy

"It seems you're out of luck!" replied the blue-skinned opponent with a smirk. "Such a shame; I was really enjoying this battle."

The Jinchuuriki collapsed to the ground, the last sight he saw before his death was of the Swordsman of the Mist using his Samehada to absorb the chakra from the ninjutsu.

"I wish I was allowed to kill him, or at least cut off a couple of limbs," the victor of the battle mumbled to himself.

Kisame then heard a murmur from the woods, like someone was thinking out loud. "Oh good! He didn't kill him. All I have to do now is to follow him and try to save Roshi...-" it whispered loudly.

"Come out! The swordsman growled. "And I might just leave you with one of your legs."

Kisame tried to sense out the person's chakra, but couldn't.

"Fuck! He heard me!"

"Of course, I can hear you! Now show yourself, as I really hate playing hide and seek."

"Can I ask you something?"

Kisame decided to use his sense of hearing to suss him out.

"Fine! But I can't guarantee you anl answer, much like the safety of your limbs!"

"Are you going to kill him, later? I really need to ask him something important. I followed you here, so I could work something out, you know, as I wanted to get the information from him and then leave. But since the fight was getting pretty scary, I thought I might as well wait it out and hope Roshi would live, you know. And saving Roshi sounds like a good idea, then he might just tell me what I need to know, you know...but I'm kinda not very good at those things-" said a shaky and rather scared male voice.

"Found you," stated the missing nin, after finding the owner of the voice, who was a silver-haired young man about the same age as Itachi. His right eye was bandaged and he was on crutches due to some injury on his right ankle.

"Hello," said the silvered hair man, who had put up his hand as a greeting signal.

"It isn't any fun, if he's already hurt," said Kisame more to himself than to the younger man.

"Could you perhaps wake him up? I kinda need to ask a couple of questions, then we can forgot about this whole ordeal, you know. What do you think?" asked the injured man, oblivious to the person he was confronting

Kisame laughed. He hadn't heard something so absurd for such a long time. This boy was unbelievable and he thought the nine tail host was bad enough.

"Will you do it?" asked the naïve youth.

"It's a waste of my time mutilating you, so just go home and forget about this. Plus I can't be bothered to have to deal with Itachi if he finds out I did something to some _innocent_ bystander."

Kisame picked up the Four Tails host and left the boy.

* * *

After the strange encounter, Kisame regrouped with Itachi a few miles in. They had just regrouped when a rustle in the bushes alerted members. Just as both Kisame and Itachi got into positions ready to fight, the silvered hair boy came out of the bushes out of breathe and covered in scratches. Pieces of twigs were attached to his clothes and clung to his hair.

"Please I beg of you. He might know where my parents are and I have to find them."

"Who's this?" asked Itachi.

"Some annoying brat, who wants to ask Roshi something. I told him to get lost, or otherwise I'd chop his head off."

"You look like a reasonable guy," said the boy, referring to Itachi. "Roshi knows where our parents are and I have to talk to him, it's really important. Please, it's for my sister! She's going to die if I don't find them."

Silence. Itachi turned away signalling that this wasn't worth his time.

"You must have family of your own, imagine if it was them!"

Kisame gave another hearty laugh "Kid, you're funny. This man is Itachi Uchiha. He killed his own clan. Do you think he's reasonable and let alone have some understanding to your situatio?."

"You're a pretty powerful ninja, can't you wake him up? I ask him where our parents are, he gives me my answers and maybe you can torture him or somethin' to egg the answers out of him if he's being a bit difficult. You know, the typical interrogation stuff."

"What makes you think he'd give you your answers?"

"He's...erm...nicer than you two. Yeah, that's right! He's nicer than you two!"

"Hmph, stupid answer kid. Do you know who he is?"

"Roshi, an old friend of our family."

"He's the bearer of the Four Tail beast."

"A...what?"

"Kid...go home. Roshi won't simply let himself get knocked out again, just 'cos you need some help."

"Please..." begged the boy, who started to cry.

"Kisame search the area. I can't see his chakra and he maybe a clone. I don't trust him," alleged the dark haired man.

"What are you talking about? I'm not a shinobi, I have no co-ordination and I'm pretty accident prone. Please just let me talk to him."

"Look at me."

"Huh?"

Then Itachi came at the boy, staring into the other's eyes and using his Sharingan.

But it didn't work.

He tackled the boy down, in a second attempt. He took the silver haired boy by the neck and tried to use his ocular jutsu again.

"What are you doing? I'll admit I prefer boys over girls, but you're really not my type. Besides we don't really know each other. Oh no! You're going to rape me, aren't you! But this is the wrong way around...."

"Who are you?"

"Well...erm...you're kinda making me nervous. Can I phone a friend?"

"Who sent you?"

"Erm...well...no-one...technically my sister, but that was more like my conscience...or maybe obligation...wait a sec...maybe not...that's a very philosophical question. If I give you a blow job, will you wake-up Roshi?"

Itachi was bemused. His Sharingan had no affect on the kid, meaning that there were people immune to the Sharingan after all. While Itachi was alarmed, that same fact relieved him to a certain extent

"There's no one," said Kisame, who had returned from his search.

"Let's go," stated the Uchiha.

"What?!" cried the bandaged boy, who started to sob. "Please, my sister is dying of leukaemia and her parents might have the bone marrow to save her. All I need to know where they are. If you're going to kill someone, you could at least save someone else."

The pair left the crying boy.

* * *

"He's still following us. What should we do?"

"Go on ahead. I'll take care of him."

The boy stood there as Itachi came down from the branches.

"Leave here. If not for your own sake then for your sister's sake."

The boy limped towards Itachi. The concerned brother looked at the Uchiha with no fear, but observation and then surprised. "Are you dying?" It was more of a confirmation than a question

Itachi didn't reply.

He punched the boy in the stomach, Itachi something like a deja vu, for some reason remembering his encounter with a strange woman years ago. It was before the massacre and it had been one of the few times he had not been able to control his emotions. The fist made full impact, but all it did was send the boy flying to the ground.

The kid got up again like as though nothing ever happened.

"I'm a medic, sadly not a medic-nin, but this looks like something I could help you with. Let me have a look I might be able to help you, so in exchange, will you let me talk to Roshi?"

It was then Itachi picked a beeping noise coming from the boy's neck.

"That's my beeper. I need it for my patients, in case of an emergency," the boy lied rather badly. The boy's voice started changing back and forth from that of a deep female voice, which sounded like she smoked two packs a day to the owner's previous voice."You know they never know when to-. Damn it!"

Itachi recognised that second voice all too well. It was of the only person, who had had a glimpse at his true self after he started spying on his family for Konoha. He grabbed for the scarf around the neck and discovered the device that was beeping. The lining of the mask she was wearing was just below her neck line and ripped the thing off her.

It revealed Kimiko, the immortal woman of Konoha.

What he found gruesome was that she looked just as bored and unaffected as he ripped the mask off as when he tried to punch her beforehand. It was why he could never familiarise himself with immortality. Even though immortals gained eternal life they always lost something, essential to their humanity. He found Kimiko's appearance disturbing, like a part of her was dead. He found memories of people who had passed away more alive than her.

"What a crappy invention! What's it worth if the batteries go flat in less than two hours!"

She scolded.

"What do you want?"

"I had a bit of an accident and almost killed the Konoha Elders and Danzou." Admittedly he found that pretty funny."So I kinda hoped to save Roshi, he tells Konoha what I did and I get to re-continue my peaceful life in Konoha. If they still hate me and plan to lock me up.

I'm going to Iwagakure."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Exact my revenge on Itachi Uchiha, who I never really had a grudge on and cure him of his disease, so he cannot died by his baby brother's hands. Then like every revenge hero or heroine die, but since I'm immortal I'll lose my insanity for a century or two and found something else better to do."

"What are you trying to imply?" asked Itachi, cold as ever.

"Your brother is a twat. You wanna be a good big brother, talk him out of this ridiculous revenge plan. Heck, I've lived long enough to see how well avengers get on in life, not all too great."

"No."

"What a waste of my time," said Kimiko, who stood up, dusted off her clothes and picked-up her bag along with the device she had used to change her voice. "Anyway I need to talk to Roshi, even if I can't take him with me. He knows where some of my family is, thought I'd apologise to them since I haven't sent them Christmas cards in a while. To be honest, I sick of all off the drama of ninja politics. I'm going to go to the mountains for about two centuries and let humanity go and destroy itself."

She took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on and continued her speech,"Could your little organisation do me a favour? Don't kill Roshi. It would be a big help. I'll come and pick him up from your hideout. And you can continue doing those things you humans like to do."

She then reached her hand out, tried to place her hand on his head and ruffled his hair.

But before she could do that, Itachi grabbed her wrist and restraining her to the ground, used his chakra to bind her two wrists together.

Although he usually did not enjoy the screaming of victims of people, he wished to a certain extent to hear it from her, as she showed no struggle and appeared to be rather bored as he took her down. It was almost grotesque.

"Wow, that was pretty smart! No wonder they called you boy wonder!"

There was no reply from the Uchiha.

"Okay, you noticed me trying to steal a hair strand. I know you're probably pretty mad and all, but could you let me watch you do your extraction thingy? I'll be quiet as a mouse during the whole thing, it's just I need to keep an eye on Roshi, that's all."

He picked her up like a sack of potatoes and then joined Kisame, who was waiting for them on a branch fifty meters ahead.

"So that boy was her the whole time," stated Kisame, who had Roshi hanging from his sword.

"Wow, what a dignified way for an unconscious man to be," said the dark-haired woman.

"So you're from the same village as Itachi. She looks pretty rotten."

"Said by Mr. Mutated shark," replied the woman. "I'm dying for a fag. Could one of you get them from the small bag attached to my belt. There should be a lighter in the box."

"No arse. No mortality. No fun."

"Itachi?"

No reply.

"I was wondering how long you plan on having me at your hideout? Thirty, forty years?"

"You're feared by the other villages and keeping you as a hostage would make you a useful threat," stated Itachi.

"That's news to me, I'm feared, wow," replied Kimiko. "I totally know what I'd with that sort of power fear. I'd make all the villages employ people to collect herbs for my research and make them my test subjects."

"You sure you're not related to Orochimaru? The corpse-like body, the need to use people as test subjects for research."

"Ewww...But you know, like him, I do have a bit of a thing for gay men. I'd totally get all the good-looking men from all the village and re-enact all the scenes from all my favourite yaoi manga. Heck, you know, for you and your brother, I have the perfect one. It begins like this: the older brother, which is you, is looking for his younger brother, which is Sasuke, 'cos they got separated at birth. One day he goes to a restaurant, where there is a piano player, you again, and they have a hot, steamy passionate night. As it turns out, they, you two, are siblings but neither knows that until it's too late. I would go into details, but it'd totally ruin the best part. Well, we have time, and since you'll be all well dead before I put this plan into action, why not. So they arrive at the apartment and they cannot keep their hands to themselves and fumbling at each other clothes to get them off....-"

"PLEASE STOP!" cried Kisame. "The images will scar me for life. I really don't need the images of Itachi and his little brother.... Oh God! No!"

"-having sex," said the immortal woman quite simply. "It's a very natural process. Well, anyway let me continue, Sasuke gives Itachi a bl-"

Before she could continue any further, Kisame and Itachi swapped their victims and Kimiko, now gagged with another chakra rope, landed on Samedha whie Itachi carried Roshi.

"Ah, silence really is golden," stated Kisame.

Kimiko struggled, but it was useless and so she ceased. Kimiko was glad for their act to shut her up, as she was trying to think of a way to deal with the situation while keeping in character. Now for their trip to the hideout, she only needed to concentrate on one.

After the incident with the Elders, she hadn't been too sure whether she should continue with her little heroic act and the little side trip to finding herself (a metaphor, which still sounds ridiculous, since how can one have lost themselves at birth and then only find it later in life?). Kimiko decided if opportunity arose, while trying a place to dwell for a while until things with the Elders died down (like the destruction of Konoha village or something similar), she would do her bit. She just hadn't quite counted on being a hostage for Akatsuki, which would be a bit of a problem, because being publicly associated with them might be a bit of a problem for her to move around freely after they're finished with her.

Kimiko needed answers and the only who had them was Itachi, which would be difficult, since she never really needed anything from someone desperately and whenever she wanted anything she just used the art of seduction in order to get it. And that art of interrogation she could simply forget about with a person like Itachi. He was a genius and, well, she had enough trouble trying to stay afloat with her conscious.

* * *

The two man cell with their targets arrived at the hideout. As soon as they had entered the hideout, Kimiko felt a strange sensation through her body. It was something she had felt before, it was like a déjà vû, but it was the type of déjà vû, where one can't place the original memory. It was like so far back in the past, one can only remember it in snapshots.

She was dropped onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.

She felt something that she didn't like when she was landed on the ground. What was it? Her throat felt dry, what does one do when one feels like that? She felt something sharp in her stomach, like she hadn't done something in a while to fill...a hole, maybe? Was that how one would describe? A gap, perhaps? She felt something else, something that would make her forget for a while, the image of a corpses came into her mind, but that wasn't it. It was something that living people did, but there were very little difference in both. It seemed she was playing a game, she had the definitions of words and had to pinpoint the word that was being defined.

"She's certainly quiet. You'd think she'd get up by now. Maybe she's feigning death, wondering what it's like. I bet immortal people do that,"commented the blue skinned man.

Kimiko was lost in thought, trying to figure what was wrong with this place. It was a dangerous place _for her_ and she had to leave. But she had to keep in character, and the conclusion she had arrived about this place was going to make this difficult.

She tried to stand-up, or at least sit up, but the thought of doing it was painful enough. She just wanted to close her eyes; she couldn't remembered what it was called, but it was that thing living people did, which resembled the dead. She could forget for a while, even it was only for a little while.*

She heard a distant voice, talk about a room that had been prepared for her. There was something else, she should have listened, she knew that.

Sleep, oh yeah, that's what it's called. She needed that. Just to forget.

* * *

The room was pitch black, where she awoke. She thought, at first she was still asleep, because of the darkness, but realised she was lying on a bed and felt that the wig to imitate the boy earlier, had been removed. She was still wearing the same clothes, though.

"I need to change," she thought out loud. Her voice was croaky. She could vaguely make out a glass of water. And realised what she needed so badly was a drink. She gulped it down, it just about quenched her thirst, but a second one would have not been a bad idea either.

"I need to find a light switch," she said to herself. She could vaguely make out some outlines of objects, and she stumbled around to find the door, where the light switch would usually be found. She switched it on and blinked some tears back, forgetting how painful that could be. She also remembered to take out the green contact lenses she had been wearing for her disguise, as they were beginning to hurt after wearing them asleep. She then realised what physical pain was, something she admittedly had not missed.

Kimiko looked about the room. It wasn't all that interesting. A bed, a chair, a table, a bed side table, and a press to put clothes in. Not even a picture for decoration. Great ninjas, clueless about interior design. Although her apartment hadn't really been the pinnacle of interior design, she saw the mess of her as, in itself the décor. Her apartment back at home at least had a personal touch to it, whereas this place was just bland.

Her bag was lying on the table, where half the stuff was gone, but the small bag that was attached to her belt was there. Luckily for her, because it, had her essentials, like her money and contacts. Her saviour was there too: her cigarettes.

She lit up a cigarette.

Escaping had crossed her mind, but probably had crossed theirs, since the knobless door had been a bit of a clue.

A shower was what she had needed. The groan in her stomach had also signalled to her a sign of hunger. She remembered someone telling her once, (Was it Sakumo, she can't remember anymore) about hunger that there was something to be said it: it told you are still alive. She remembered making a smart comment about ninjas endangering their lives on a daily basis. But all she thought was, does that mean I'm dead?

She ripped a piece of paper from her notepad and wrote a message to slide under the door:

_Dear Akatsuki,_

_I'd like to upgrade to an en-suite room, a knobless door is great idea to avoid escape attempts, but not so great if your hostage needs a loo and a shower. _

_I'm hungry, so I'd like some oden and onigri. Some green tea and water would do some good, as I feel like I'm suffering from the worst hangover ever._

_Thanks_

_Kimiko_

_P.S. I need cigarettes, as well_

The last part about the hangover was not true, but she thought adding it might gather some sympathy, as well as haste..

She slid the note under the door.

After chain-smoking five cigarettes, which became her way to track the time, there was a knock at the door and a man, who looked like he was the human version of a venus flytrap. The air in the room had been polluted by the smoke from the cigarettes and had made it difficult to see in the room, because of it's bad ventilation.

"It appears you think this place is a hotel," said the dark part.

"Well, considering I'm suppose to be a threat of some sorts to all the countries, I'd like to be treated as so."

"Just so you know the food's awful here,"said the white part.

"Can you have a conversation with yourself?"

"No," stated the black part

"Yes," replied the white part.

"How cool!" said Kimiko. "So could I have some cigarettes?"

"Is she trying to kill herself with her own habit?" spoke up another voice behind, observing the state of the room.

"She's immortal," stated the black half.

It was a blond man who joined them. She recognised immediately as one of the men Genma had told her about, that Kakashi fought from the Akatsuki.

"I know you!" shouted Kimiko in excitement, pointing at him

The blonde man seem quite smug by her reaction.

"Now my art is finally being recognised in the way it should be!"

"Art? Oh yeah, you consider destruction an art. What a waste. No, I remember someone telling me you had some anger management issues."

The white part sniggered at Kimiko statement, while Deidara was trying to withhold a tantrum.

"I'll tell you what I'll gave you merits for recognising that all art is quite useless."**

This comment didn't quite help Deidara's temper.

"I'm thirsty, even if the food is crap, I would like something to eat."

Kimiko tried to push the men out of the room.

The Venus Flytrap blocked her way out. "You have to remain here at all times,"the black part explained."All food and drinks will be brought to you and Konan will escort you when you shower. You shall have no more than five minutes for bathroom breaks."

"And cigarettes?"

"If you're a good girl," finished the white part.

Then they left the room.

She came up with an idea, although it might endanger her life now that there seems to be a possibility her mortality somehow miraculously returned.. It was a worth a try, and test if her assumption is true or not. If she was so precious to their plans, she'll be saved. She had a feeling that if they were giving her glasses of water and bathroom breaks they also suspected her mortality has returned and she could use it as her escape route.

Her mouth was still very dry, but her thirst had to wait.

She attached the small bag to her belt with all the essentials, the other bigger bag would have to be discarded as it wasn't very practical if she was going to make a run.

She moved the table and press to the side of the door. She removed from her bag a book and ripped out all the pieces of paper and spread them all over the press and table, so that each were touching each other. She then took her cigarette lighter and set several papers alight. She blew the little flames that she created in order for the table and press to catch fire.

They started to burn.

She then took the bed covers and covered herself and remained low.

As ten minutes past, she could really feel the heat, but the worst was the smoke. She was coughing constantly and her eyes were watering, while trying to see if there was a place among the fire, she could run through quickly with as little burns as possible.

"Fuck it!" she gasped and ran.

A small hole in the wall had been made through the fire and she ducked through it, but the bed sheets caught on fire and discarded it. She came out into a corridor, where there appeared to be no-one, but it was difficult to judge due to the smoke. She began to run, but due to her stamina and the smoke she couldn't keep going for more than a couple a minutes. She tried to walk quickly, but the side stitch she had developed didn't make that easy. The fire also appeared to be spreading now more quickly and it was becoming quite hazardous, since the walls were in endanger of caving in.

She then felt a presence grow ever nearer to her, this presence felt similar to the sensation in her body she had been feeling since she arrived at this place. This sensation had been lingering inside her since she came here, but with the presence growing ever closer it was almost engulfing her. And it did.

The sensation. She hated it. It was the vulnerability, she had always hated so much.

And as it engulfed her. Or to be more exact its fist made contact with her stomach. The evidence was coughed up, where it was on fingers. She smelt its metallic aroma. She saw part of what define mortality. ***

"I remember, it makes stainless steel rust," she barely whispered, before she passed out.

A male in a mask looked at the fire and then at the haggard woman lying on the floor. "You were always a such a drama queen."

* * *

Kimiko felt her feet being tickled by something cold and...wet? Her eyes opened to see what it was and she realised she was facing down looking at something grainy, it was what little children liked to play in.

Oh right. Sand.

She turned around and observed her surroundings. She had never been at a beach, but had saw pictures of it in books and seen them in films. It was supposed to have a smell as well, but she couldn't smell anything.

She noticed the only sound of life was the waves. Otherwise, there was silence.

The woman stood-up and decided to walk down the beach. She walked along so that the waves could tickle her feet. She had always imagined that's how it felt.

Sandcastles. She found sandcastles. Lots of them.

They appeared to be so familiar to her and then she asked herself out loud. Although, she felt it out of place here to speak aloud. As though it would ruin the atmosphere and the scene that had taken place.

"Did I make these?"

A great gush of wind overcame the beach. The sandcastles was lost in the wind. Destruction of what she had built up all through the years.****

Her grey eyes followed the sand as it disappeared into the distant sky.

This led her to turn to the ocean. She felt something besides the waves. It was harder.

She peered into the water closely.

A scream. Her scream.

She knelled down into the water.

It was Kira's body.

She found herself sobbing "I'm sorry" repeatedly.

Her eyes averted to the sky.

There was the dreaded red eyes. It felt like it had created this dimension, like it belonged to them.

Then something grabbed her ankle and she was pulled into the ocean.

* * *

Madara had asked Itachi to stay in the room with him until she awoke. He couldn't understand what the older man's motives were for him to be here, which led him to think and theorise about the situation. It was something that he had been drilled into doing since he was young, it was second nature to him and something he always did. Otherwise he didn't feel comfortable in the situation.

Madara had found the woman, apparently unconscious. But Itachi had his doubts, that it was the smoke from the fire that caused her to become unconscious. The woman was obviously a nutjob, and had Kisame not put out the flames with one of his jutsus, the entire base would be burnt to the ground.

But while she was a danger to her and anyone living within a ten mile radius, Itachi couldn't understand why Madara needed her. His excuse that she was seen as a threat to many of the countries, despite the fact the only trait of power she seemed to possess was immortality, which for Madara, an immortal himself, was negligible.

He remembered when he was still part of the ANBU that there was rumours flying she had been capable of doing things, but the last spectacular of such had apparently only happened when the Elders and the Third Hokage were still quite young.

What worried him was the relationship between this woman and Madara. Had they known each other, when Madara was still in Konoha? Kimiko was such a fickle woman, he could imagine her supporting Madara, just because it simply gave her something to do. He wanted to prevent any sort of attack from Madara on Konoha, as otherwise it would seem the massacre of his family and the revenge that his brother would take him pointless. On the other hand, he didn't know Kimiko well enough to understand her actions, because she never appeared to have a motive. Her mortality had also re-appeared since she arrived, so maybe Madara had something he could use against her, so that she's blackmailed into helping Madara's campaign. And if she were to help Madara, he didn't know what she was capable of if she really stuck herself into something.

Madara had gone out of the room for a short awhile and he was left alone with her.

All of a sudden, the lanky woman's eyes shot open and she sat-up quickly breathing heavily and was sweating what appeared to be a cold sweat. She saw him and then jumped up at him from the side of the bed and hugged him.

"Kira! Kira! You're alive! I'll save you! I'll protect you!" she cried repeatedly.

"I'm so sorry! I thought that bastard killed you, but he didn't. We can go to my parents and live there. My dad likes guys, as well. He can introduce you to lots of men. So, we'll find you a wonderful boyfriend for you to live with. Won't that be great?! We can finally be free. No more traditions. No more adjusting to society. We can be whoever we want to be. Your mum can come afterwards as well, when she gets better," she continued, but in a less hysterical tone.

As she held him tight, he couldn't break free. Her grip on him was so tight it felt like the chakra chains he had used on her to carry her here. It was a strength he knew himself that she had never possessed and it was possibly _this_, that Madara wanted to take advantage of.

He then felt something else which was like a mixture of fire and electricity go through the chakra in his veins and in particular through the optic nerves, which had nearly been completely destroyed through the use of his Mangekyo Sharingan. It was not only returning the eyesight slowly to once what it was, but also healing the damages done by the disease. It was also rather painful and was very different from the treatment he had received from medic-nins, which was more soothing and cooling.

But he didn't want this.

Itachi wished to die by his brother hands and to fight him at that point in time. But now, his health and eyesight were slowly being returned to what it once was. Sasuke didn't have the capability to fight him in a pseudo-fair fight in his returned state, he'd have to one hell of an actor to still pull a defeat. Despite the fact that even if he had fought in his weakened state, he knew that most likely he would have been killed by the disease than by his younger brother.

A shriek came from the woman and she let go of the younger man. It seems the upper part of her right arm was hurting. She held it, as though she was trying to reduce the discomfort and breathed heavily to smother any cries of pain. He couldn't see what it was, as she was a long sleeved t-shirt.

Then the door opened, revealing Madara in his Tobi outfit. He took off his mask, as though he wanted to look at the woman clearly.

Whatever pain she had been feeling had been quickly disregarded, as she ran towards the older Uchiha.

There was pure raw madness in her eyes.

"You son of a bitch! I'm taking you down to the deepest depths of hell from where you came from!"

She attempted to grab for his neck in order to choke him. But failed.

Ironically, he succeeded in grabbing her neck and push against the wall.

"_You, listen good_. That's no way to treat your husband after not seeing him in eighty years. Especially since you've been such an unfaithful and dishonourable wife."

**

* * *

*This whole part, where she's regaining her hungry, thirst etc. refers to a quote from Cervantes' **_**Don Quixote**_**: ****"All I know is that while I'm asleep, I'm never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level. There's only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I've ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there's very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse" **

****This is directly quoted from Oscar Wilde's **_**The Picture of Dorian Gray**_**. He states****in his preface (I think), "All art is quite useless."**

*****It's blood. Just in case you hadn't figured out.**

******Idea was used from Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake: "Beneath it there's a triangular orange sign with the black silhouette of a man shovelling. Men at Work, that used to work Strange to think of the endless labour, the digging, the hammering, the carving, the lifting, the drilling, day by day, year by year, century by century****: and now the endless crumbling going on everywhere. Sandcastles in the Wind."**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
**


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